During some downtime while I was on pinterest (which I am addicted to lol), I ran across a picture of what looked to be large popcorn tins that come out around Xmas time. Well after I read this article these were actually an item being sold by Ballard design catalog but a few people suggested using popcorn tins for this and would save a lot of money considering Ballard sells them for around $50 a can. I went to work and asked around to see if anyone had any laying around that they wanted to get rid of and I found my ace in the hole Lori who actually teaches with me since we have a large class she always has every random item I need I tease her and tell her she must be a hoarder or a pack rat but she always comes through. She actually had two different sizes for me. I finally decided that painting the cans white like the catalog would get dirty fast, so I decided maybe a dark creamish color would work and maybe a black lid. The longest part of the project was trying to take off the sticky tape around the lid. I tried everything Brillo pads, different removers, lightly scrapping and magic erasers. The one smaller can wasnt sticky so I cleaned it up let it dry out and started spraying primer on can since it was very brightly colored plus I wanted to do this project right and the paint not to peel off a week later. I decided that I needed to give the other can a break and maybe not even use it if I couldnt get sticky stuff off the can. If anyone has ideas on how to remove stuff like these seals easily please let me know for the future. Anyways after the can and lid dried I sanded down to a smooth finish. Now it was time to spray paint the can and lid and decided I didn’t really like a glossy finish on this but maybe a matte or satin type finish which is what I decided to go with. Once the spray painting was done and had dried for a few hours i wanted to seal the finish since I would be removing the lid a lot I didnt want the paint to peel the first time I removed the lid so I ran out again to home depot and bought some matte finish clear coat spray to finish the project. I need the clear coat for other projects as well. It looked great brought it inside the house to dry for a few days then it would be ready when I created and cut the vinyl lettering. I used my cricut expression machine for the lettering.

This is a picture of the cans from the Ballard catalog. I do like the lime green just doesn’t fit with my decor.

This is a picture after I finished my smaller can just haven’t put the vinyl lettering on the can yet.
Below is the pics of the final product.

After applying the vinyl lettering it just wasn’t what I had imagined in my mind but for now it will do. I only have so many font cartridges and had won a bid on eBay for the cricut gypsy which I wanted to be able to play around with and create different lettering for the cans which I will do once I learn how to use the gypsy if anyone has pointers I would love to hear them. Looks like tonight I will be on you tube watching tutorials on how to use this gadget. I will post pics of the cans once I find and print a design I am happier with.